Bad Monday Apparel is a unique range of clothing and accessories inspired by the tattoo culture, merged with other art influences but still respecting more traditional styles. Created by Mark Avey, Bad Monday is a brand that cares about quality, offering distinctive and premium designs without the premium price.
Founded in 2017, when Mark gave up his full-time job to design and print t-shirts from his garage, the business has really taken off. Online sales, via the Bad Monday’s ecommerce site, are at a level today where print is outsourced and Mark’s time is now spent more on order fulfilment.
The business challenges…
Whilst in the early days Mark was able to manage or juggle the running of the business and keeping on top of the finances, increased sales brought with it the typical challenges of a growing business. These included keeping on top of cash flow, maintaining profitability, ensuring there was enough capital to fund the growth and getting to grips with taxation.
How we helped…
Working with Mark from the outset, we were well placed to support him as the business took off. In particular we were on hand to advise him on business structure and helped him on the journey from a sole trader to a limited company. This transition has provided scope for him to retain more profit to reinvest in the business, as well as providing increased working capital and keeping tax to a minimum.
With the continued growth of the business it was recognised that there was a need to have more timely and accurate financial information to monitor and manage the business. Records had previously been kept manually, however the use of accounting software became a necessary consideration due to the increased volume of financial transactions and the need for greater immediacy of accessing information. Based on the business activity, the needs of clients and our role supporting the client, Intuit QuickBooks was the cloud accounting software of choice.
With simple set up the software solution provided real time access to the company’s accounts, allowing us to spot any anomalies or trends around cashflow and profitability and report them to the client. We were also able to quickly and cost effectively prepare quarterly management accounts, which have been valuable in supporting the growth of the business.
One year on the business continues to grow and with our support it now has the management information to manage its expansion. Working closely with Mark has enabled us to develop a good understanding of the business which in turn has enabled us to be effective in supporting its development. Much of this has come about through realising the benefits of online accounting software with the ease of a cost-effective provision of financial information. Certainly our role has been much more than just producing year-end accounts!
